Fort Myers Brewing Company to Celebrate 5 Years in Business This Month

Fort Myers Brewing Company
celebrates its five-year anniversary with a six-day-long party Feb.
20-25. They will release more than 50 different flavors of beer that
week. In addition, they will host 18 different
local food trucks, seven local bands and a Beer Mile. The schedule of
events is as follows:

Sunday, Feb. 25

We
caught up with Jen Gratz-Whyte, co-owner of Fort Myers Brewing Company,
who gave us a brief on the brewery's five years in history.

Gulf & Main Magazine: Tell us a little bit about Fort Myers Brewing Company. When and how did it get started?

Jen Gratz-Whyte: Rob,
my husband, began brewing in his hometown of San Diego in the early
90s, but by the time Rob and I were married, his time making beer had
all but went away and I had no idea he had a passion for homebrewing. It
was only because of my work schedule that changed the narrative. I am a
Michigan native and just after we were married I took a position which
required me to spend a considerable amount of time back in Michigan
where my career had begun.

This left Rob with plenty of idle
time to rediscover his passion for brewing and he soon found himself
earning some recognition in many of the uber-competitive California
homebrewing competitions. Now fully engaged with his brew hobby, Rob
began volunteering at a nearby brewery in Oceanside. He continued
volunteering for years - and never missed a brew day - which provided
him plenty of knowledge on the business of beer making.

When we
moved to Florida in 2011, Fort Myers was without a single local brewery,
an opportunity that we could not pass up. After two years of research
and planning, Fort Myers Brewing Company opened its doors with very
modest aspirations. What started as a small system serving a few drafts
from a simple tasting room that bore a remarkable resemblance to
someone’s basement has since grown into a four-vessel, 30-barrel brew
system with 90-, 60- and 20-barrel fermentation tanks that churn out
draft and packaging to service an ever- expanding distribution points
and a constantly busy and growing tasting room and outdoor social
hangout.

We found that our favorite breweries shared more in
common than great beer; they all served as a gathering place where new
and old friends could mingle and a sense of community could be felt by
all. It was only natural then that we would decide to open Fort Myers
Brewing Company in the community we called home, Gateway, and build a
place for family (including the furry family members) with an open
seating plan that helps strangers become friends.

GM: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What's your role there?

Gratz-Whyte: When
Rob and I opened FMBrew, we anticipated that at some point he would
leave his day job and this would become his full-time career. We thought
that would happen at about the five-year mark - it actually happened at
the one-year mark. We did not anticipate that this would also become my
full-time career; however, it has become a full-time position for me as
well. I wear a lot of different hats - I've poured concrete, written
business plans, helped put together equipment, analyzed projections,
cleaned bathrooms and I am always the one you can count on to stress
about everything!

GM: What's one of the most popular brews so far?

Gratz-Whyte: Gateway
Gold started as our most popular beer. It is a blonde ale that is a
great "gateway" into the world of craft beer. However, five years later,
our IPA, High 5, is our most popular brew. High 5 is an approachable
IPA brewed with citra and centennial hops and in 2015 it was named the
best IPA in the state of Florida. It's fun to be a part of people's
growing pallet for craft beer. Our tasting room allows us to experiment
with bigger and even more flavorful beers like Somebody Else's Dream,
our chocolate stout, which tastes like a chocolate bar in a glass; or,
our Prickly Pear Gose, which is slightly salty, tart and refreshing!

GM: What's one of the most memorable moments you've had while working there (so far)?

Gratz-Whyte: There
are so many memorable moments! At all of our big festivals - we host 4
festivals every year - Rob and I take a moment to stand outside, in the
middle of the crowd with our arms wrapped around each other and just
look around and take it in ... the massive crowd of people enjoying our
beer and the food from local food trucks along with some people dancing
to the live music ... it is pretty incredible to think of how much we
have grown in such a short amount of time.

Another memorable day was on March 6, 2016 - we took our entire staff to Tampa for the Best Florida Beer competition.
The Best Florida Beer competition is special because the judges are
Florida brewery owners and brewers so the awards are the highest honors
from local industry experts. On that evening in March, our entire staff
celebrated together after Fort Myers Brewing was named the Best Large
Brewery in the entire state!

GM: What can someone expect while visiting the brewery?

Gratz-Whyte: Our
tasting room is relaxed and a place where you might meet your new best
friend! We welcome the biggest craft beer enthusiast, the craft beer
newbie and everyone in between all the same. We have games - like
cornhole and jenga, that people can check out and play while enjoying a
beer and food from a local food truck. Our tasting room is open seven
days a week and we have at least one local food truck on-site everyday.
Patrons can step into the back and catch a glimpse of our brewing
equipment or schedule a tour to get a closer look at the manufacturing
process.